Now the bad.
You know the bad. You’re living it or you are seeing someone close to you live with it. It’s awful, consuming, and never-ending. You hope for a different day, but it does not come. When will your luck change?
You have to make your luck change. The first step is acknowledging that you are in pain. Your thoughts, your big emotions, make it hard to meet people or have peace of mind. Maybe you’ve even accepting depression as part of your personality. (It’s not).
The worst part of depression hands down is the loneliness. The loneliness you feel from missing out on friendships, on experiences that you’ve scoffed away as unimportant. The isolation of knowing that no one else understands you. The feeling that things might get worse or that you are a burden to others. You are not. And if someone makes you feel that way, let them go.
You are not a burden. You are a person with feelings. And it is so incredibly important for you to connect to others. Whether that is talking to a friend, joining a group online, or (gasp) going out to a party.
Another terrible part of depression is the monotony of life. You go to work ,you come home and watch TV, eat, and look at your phone until you fall asleep. If you can fall asleep. There is great comfort in routines and I am a proponent for sameness in your life. But too much of it adds to the isolation you feel. Life is a range of experiences and emotions. Don’t be so afraid that you end up letting it pass you by. You still have time.
The amount of your sadness might seem unsurmountable. But it’s okay to feel sad. It’s good to release your sadness with tears. If you feel like you are constantly crying, then you might have a lot of pain to deal with and might not know the best way to manage it. It’s okay to express your emotions.. Again try your best to get out it. That’s not ignoring your problems, that’s just adding more experiences to your life.
There are so many more components to depression. The erratic eating and sleeping. The irritation, the pain in your body, the lethargy…
Just know that it’s going to take time, but you can feel better.